Renewable Energy & Advanced Power Electronics Research Lab
News Archive
Thesis Defense: Ms. Nabila ElBeheriy
REAPER Lab congratulates Ms. Nabila ElBeheriy for successfully defending her MS thesis entitled, “ Noninvasive Detection of Incipient PV Module Failure from Moisture Ingress.” Ms. ElBeheiry’s research studied the detection of moisture ingress in solar photovoltaic modules. She developed a noninvasive early detection method for moisture penetration into solar panels. Her work marks an important advancement in enhancing the safety, reliability, and long-term performance of photovoltaic energy systems.
Ms. ElBeheiry earned her B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University in Qatar in May 2020 and completed her M.S. in Electrical Engineering at the REAPER Lab at Texas A&M University, where her research focused on model-based system identification techniques to perform anomaly detection to photovoltaic systems. She is currently working at Inventus Power, specializing in power electronics applications for lithium-ion battery systems.
Ms. Shukri receives First Place for her research poster
The REAPERlab congratulates Ms. Shukri for her for wining First Place in the Spring 2025 Texas A&M University Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Graduate Poster Event, held on February 21, 2025. Her poster, titled “An Open-Access Library of Electrical Arc Signatures for the Development and Testing of PV Arc Fault Detection Techniques,” presents a novel dataset aimed at advancing arc fault detection in PV systems. This work contributes a critical resource for researchers and industry professionals by providing a publicly available library of arc signatures under diverse electrical and environmental conditions. It is made public to support the PV research, development, and test communities and is available on IEEE DataPort™, titled “Photovoltaic DC Arc Library.”
Ms. Shukri received best poster award for her research paper at the IEEE 52nd Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC 2024)
The REAPERlab congratulates Ms. Shukri on her Best Poster Award. Ph.D. candidate Ms. Sawsan Shukri presented a poster on her research paper entitled “A Library of Electrical Arc Signatures for the Development of PV Arc Fault Detection Techniques” at the 52nd Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC 2024) in Seattle, Washington. The poster was co-authored by Ms. Fatima Al-Janahi, Dr. J. J. Boutros, Mr. K. Abdulmawjood and Dr. R. S. Balog.
Arc faults are a major cause of photovoltaic (PV) system failures, often leading to electrical fires due to equipment malfunctions or poor installations. Consequently, arc-fault detectors, now mandated in many jurisdictions, are essential for PV safety. This research presents results obtained from the development of an automated mechatronics test bed using the UL1699B pull-apart method. These results were curated into a library of 2,352 arcs which considered variations of electrode material and geometry, pull-part distance and velocity, and arc current and voltage. This is made public to support the PV research, development, and test communities and is available on IEEE DataPort™, titled “Photovoltaic DC Arc Library.”
This publication was made possible by NPRP grant # 13S-0213-200357 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.
Ms. Sawsan Shukri passes Ph.D. preliminary examination
The REAPER Lab congratulates Ph.D. student Ms. Sawsan Shukri for passing her preliminary examination. His research pertains to applications of machine learning to photovoltaic systems.
Sawsan received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University at Qatar in May 2019 and then her M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University at College Station, TX in December 2022. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas USA.
Research team awarded second US Patent for innovative shape memory alloy actuated switch (SMAAS) technology.
The REAPERlab is pleased to announce that Dr. Robert Balog (Professor and lab Director), Mr. Moustafa Raslan (former MS Student of the Texas A&M University Department of Interdisciplinary Engineering), and Dr. Ibrahim Karaman (Professor and Department Head of the Texas A&M University Department of Materials Science and Engineering) have been awarded US Patent 11,929,219 for their invention of the shape memory alloy actuated switch (SMAAS). This is their second issued US patent on the technology.
A shape-memory alloy actuated switch (SMAAS) enables the bi-stable switching between two or more electrical circuits. The SMAAS includes a substrate, one or more electrical contacts attached to the substrate for connecting to one or more electrical circuits, and one or more electrically conductive elements for selectively connecting the one or more electrical contacts. The SMAAS also includes one or more shape-memory alloy actuators attached to the substrate. The shape-memory alloy actuators are configured to move the electrically conductive element(s) and are self-heated by passing a brief current pulse through the shape-memory alloy material. The SMAAS invention includes a retention mechanism(s) to prevent movement of the electrically conductive element(s) after actuation. The SMAAS is efficient as is only requires energy to changing switch state and does not require holding current to maintain a particular switch configuration.
For Prof. Balog, this is his twenty-second US patent that he has been awarded. Most of his patents have been assigned or licensed to the industry and have already been or are currently being commercialized.
The patent assignee is Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development. This patent was made possible by NPRP grant # 7-299-2-124 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.
Dr. Morcos Metry presents a research paper at IEEE 4th International Conference on Smart Grid and Renewable Energy (SGRE2024)
Assistant research scientist Dr. Morcos Metry presented his paper titled “Online Weight Factor Tuning for MPC Regulated Power Quality Compensators” at the IEEE 4th International Conference on Smart Grid and Renewable Energy (SGRE2024) oral presentation session in Doha, Qatar on January 8, 2024.
This paper improves the capacitor-less power quality compensator’s (CPQC) ability to provide long service life by reducing switching losses. While finite control set model predictive control (MPC) achieves high fidelity tracking for multi-objective cost functions, it results in high switching frequency, which increases losses and device stresses and reduces the overall converter reliability. This paper develops an auto-tuning approach for the MPC weighting factors that minimizes the switching frequency within IEEE harmonics standards, hence reducing switching stresses. This paper includes detailed parametric studies on the impact of different loading conditions and weight factor combinations on performance. The significance of this paper is the use of the load characterization of the system bus, to auto-tune the MPC weighting factors during operation.
This publication was made possible by NPRP grant # 13S-0213-200357 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.
Ms. Fatima Al-Janahi presents a research paper at IEEE 4th International Conference on Smart Grid and Renewable Energy (SGRE2024)
Masters student Fatima AL-Janahi presented her paper co-authored with PhD student Ms. Sawsan Shukri and undergraduate students Ms. L. Al-Huneidi, and Mr. A. Al-Shammary entitled “An Automated Testbed for PV Arcs Analysis” at the IEEE 4th International Conference on Smart Grid and Renewable Energy (SGRE2024) poster session in Doha, Qatar on January 8th, 2024. The project was directed by Mr. K. Abdulmawjood, Dr. J. J. Boutros, and Dr. R. S. Balog.
Arc faults are one of the leading causes of photovoltaic (PV) system failures and can ultimately result in electrical fires. Ensuring reliable arc fault detection is essential for maintaining the safe operation of PV systems. Electrical PV arcs are chaotic and challenging to characterize. Developing an effective arc fault detector is made possible by accurately characterizing arc faults. Therefore, a scientifically repeatable method is required to generate PV arcs within a controlled laboratory setting. A mechatronics arc generator is developed based on the pull-apart method described in the UL1699B standard. This paper describes improvements to a previous design that overcomes limitations identified in the prior design. A MATLAB-based data library filter application is designed to simplify and optimize the handling and filtering of the extensive arc data repository, ensuring its accessibility and usability for researchers and professionals.
This publication was made possible by grant # AICC02-0505-190022 and grant # UREP24-023-2-010 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the authors’ responsibility.
Dr. Morcos Metry and Dr. Wesam Rohouma publish a research paper at IEEE Energy Conversion and Congress Exhibition (ECCE ’23).
Assistant research scientist Dr. Morcos Metry presented his paper, co-written with Dr. Wesam Rohouma, titled “Load Characterization Tuning Strategy to Reduce Switching Losses in Power Quality Compensators” at the IEEE Energy Conversion and Congress Exhibition oral presentation session in Nashville, TN on November 2.
This paper improves the capacitorless power quality compensators (CPQC) by achieving longer converter service life through reducing switching losses. While finite control set model predictive control (MPC) achieves high fidelity tracking for multi-objective cost functions, it results in high switching frequency, which increases losses and device stresses, and reduces the overall converter reliability. This paper develops an auto-tuning approach for the MPC weighting factors that minimizes the switching frequency within IEEE harmonics standards, hence reduces switching stresses. The significance of the developed approach is its use of the load characterization of the system bus, to auto-tune the MPC weighting factors during operation.
Dr. Wesam Rohouma presents a research paper at IEEE Energy Conversion and Congress Exhibition (ECCE ’23).
Dr. Wesam Rohouma delivered his post-journal presentation, co-authored with Dr. Morcos Metry, Dr. Aaqib Peerzada, and Dr. Miroslav Begovic, titled “Analysis of the Capacitor-Less D-STATCOM for Voltage Profile Improvement in Distribution Network with High PV Penetration” at the IEEE Energy Conversion and Congress Exhibition poster session in Nashville, TN on October 31st.
This paper examines an alternative distribution static synchronous compensator (D-STATCOM) based on a matrix converter (MC) for the low voltage distribution networks with high PV penetration. This technology can extend service life by using inductors for energy storage. The converter being studied provides ancillary services, including reactive power support; the impact on reliability, operational constraints, and electrical behavior is demonstrated. The contribution of this paper is a detailed analysis and impact study of the capacitor-less D-STATCOM in high PV penetration distribution networks. The significance of this paper is that it studies the behavior of the power electronics converter and its interaction with the power systems without assuming or neglecting details of either. Compensation effects and reliability comparisons between the proposed capacitorless D-STATCOM and the incumbent D-STATCOM technology are also studied in this paper.
Ms. Sawsan Shukri presents a research paper at IEEE Energy Conversion and Congress Exhibition (ECCE ’23).
PhD student Sawsan Shukri presented the paper co-written with Dr. Morcos Metry, Dr. Nagi Guler, and Dr. Wesam Rohouma titled “Performance Comparison of dSPACE and DSP MPC Implementation in PV Power Optimizer” at the IEEE Energy Conversion and Congress Exhibition poster session in Nashville, TN on October 31st.
This paper aims to bridge the gap between expensive rapid prototyping platforms (RPP) and low-cost MCUs by exploring the feasibility of rapid prototyping (RP) on the low-cost F28379D launchpad. This paper is aimed toward the practitioner or researcher who desires to reduce to practice the model predictive control (MPC) methods developed on a RPP to a lower-cost embedded controller. The suitability of a low-cost Texas Instrument (TI) launchpad to perform the same rapid-prototyping functions needed for MPC regulator development in a full-featured, high-end RPP is discussed. Experimental results using the dSPACE 1006 and the F28379D Launchpad showing steady-state performance and dynamic response are illustrated and compared.
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